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Category: Civil War

America’s history of dealing in human cargo dates to its early years as an emerging colonial empire. Our first president, George Washington owned slaves but today it’s hard for us to understand how anyone could force another person into slavery. There is absolutely no defense of it. None.

The first fugitive slave law was passed in 1793. It was enacted to solve the problem of slaves escaping to states that prohibited slavery. The “owner” of the slave need only apply to the authorities for a warrant to have his “property” returned.

The institution of slavery was appalling to the northern states so they enacted local laws that prohibited state officials from assist in the capturing of runaways. This was very much like today’s sanctuary cities for illegal aliens.

By 1850, due to pressure from slave states, a new law demanded federal officials enforce the law. In 1861, the Civil War broke out. The rest is history and it’s not pretty.

Suellen Ocean is the author of the series, Civil War Era Romances. Available here:

When the Civil War ended in 1865, the United States government created a department whose main concern was to look after the well-being of former slaves. Whether it was naive or ignorant, it was thought that one year would be enough to attend to the freedman’s needs. It wasn’t. There were tens of thousands of freed slaves who had been kept against their will, unable to learn how to read or write and unable to navigate the treacherous waters of freedom, especially considering the bitter prejudice that existed in the south.

The aim of the Freedman’s Bureau was to provide for the maintenance and education of freed slaves and monitor their conditions of employment and administer justice. It was a corrupt, dysfunctional mess. That’s what happens when those in charge use a government bureau for their own political motives. The power of the Freedmen’s Bureau must have been vast. Besides the above-mentioned duties, the bureau controlled land that had been confiscated during the war. In 1872, the bureau disbanded but not until after it did a lot of damage. In the end, it had the reputation of doing “more harm than good.”

Suellen Ocean is the author of the series, Civil War Era Romances. Available here:

President Donald Trump has brought a lot of attention to the Civil War this week. Making scholars remind us of the truth about that war, maybe even confusing us. History buffs will let you know that the Civil War wasn’t all about freeing slaves. It was also about preserving the Union. Ouch. That hurts.

Dividing the United States of America was unthinkable to the North. America’s economy was in crisis. At the beginning of the Civil War, the price of cotton started to increase, obviously because the north was shut off from the south but in 1865, when Robert E. Lee surrendered, the price dropped.

Fortunes were made on the backs of slaves who labored in the sun-drenched cotton fields. People died out in those hot fields. And today, we forget all about that. We take our cotton for granted. We throw it on our beds, onto our backs, onto our floors and into our mattresses. We dry off with it and lay on top of it at the beach. We make balls of it to swab our skin and make strips of it to use as bandages and slings. Tents, tarps, you name it, we’ve made it from cotton. How many of us think of the history behind cotton? It’s hard to understand all the politics surrounding the Civil War but the next time you put your hands on cotton, think of all the history behind it. And be grateful that it is behind us.

Suellen Ocean is the author of the series, Civil War Era Romances. Available here:

The Civil War ended in April 1865 and the last Civil War veterans died in the 1950’s. But according to a story last August in the “U.S. News & World Report,” by Curt Mills, the United States was still paying a veteran’s pension to the daughter of Mose Triplett, a soldier who started as a Confederate Rebel and defected to the North and became a Yankee. When Mose died in 1938, the pension he was receiving went to his daughter Irene. If you’re counting the years since the Civil War ended and thinking… that’s not possible, let me give you a hint. His second wife was fifty-years younger. Mose was eighty-three when his daughter Irene was born. He was an elderly father, he had his last child, a son, at eighty-seven. He must have been a hearty man, he made it to the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Suellen Ocean is the author of the series, Civil War Era Romances. Available here:

I grew up in the post-World War II era. In the San Francisco Bay Area, there was a large docked fleet of steel ships. They called it the moth ball fleet. I think it’s still there. There have been suggestions about what to do with it, but to my knowledge, those ships are still docked.

Just like during World War II, during the Civil War, America had plenty of ships. It was quite an armada but after that bloody war and all those lives lost, Americans longed for peace and ignored our Navy. The thinking was that no other country would invade the United States, so the flotilla rotted away. Thankfully, Americans came to their senses and every few years, Congress allocated funds for more ships.

As much as we hate war, it’s a necessity to protect our country. But it is heartening to me to understand that Americans were so sick of war that instead of fighting, they were rebuilding America.

Suellen Ocean is the author of the series, Civil War Era Romances. Available here:

Times have changed for Black America when before the Civil War, it was illegal in many states to learn to read and write. While most of White America did not attend college, it was an opportunity if the family had means. It was however, a big challenge for Blacks. So after the war, when slavery was abolished and they were given more freedom to live as they choose, the church was an option and many Black families attended. Within these churches, they learned to read and write through studying the Bible. And since the “good book” was also a history book, a book of laws, a cultural journal and a vast literary work of proverbs, prophesy and poetry, becoming a scholar became an option for religious Blacks. The evolution of the church brought us great leaders like Martin Luther King and gospel singers like Mahalia Jackson and of course a rich music legacy of soul, rhythm and blues, funk, rap and good ‘ol rock ‘n ‘roll.

Suellen Ocean is the author of the series, Civil War Era Romances. Available here:

I believe it was William Somerset Maugham who wrote in one of his novels that we love someone because they bring us pleasure. That philosophy offers up possibilities besides the usual heart-thumping emotions we call love. If pleasure equals love, options could include loving someone for their wealth, their sexuality, their prestige, power, beauty… you name it. And who are we to judge?

There are plenty of historical records of black women cohabiting with white men and white women with black men. But I find myself asking… did blacks and whites during the Civil War Era truly love their partner of a different skin color? With the lack of freedom for blacks you really do have to ask. Was this relationship I see on paper, good old-fashioned love? The kind that makes your heart go… thump, thump, thump? Or was it coercion, comfort, security or freedom that the relationship provided?

After the war ended, Mississippi was so concerned that blacks and whites would have relationships, they stiffened the penalty to life in prison. But the historical records reveal that during the most dangerous times, mixed couples risked it all to be with the ones they loved.